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Theatre in the Park Christmas shows

When: Dec. 9-20 2015

THEATRE IN THE PARK CHRISTMAS SHOWS

VARIOUS VENUES, RALEIGH/DURHAM

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9–SUNDAY, DEC. 20

Once again, Raleigh's Theatre in the Park corners the local market on Christmas shows with three separate stagings of its two very long-running holiday productions. The week before the regional debut of David Sedaris' comical Christmas monologue, The Santaland Diaries (Dec. 1120, Theatre in the Park, 107 Pullen Road, Raleigh), the Supreme Court ruled George W. Bush the winner of the 2000 presidential election. In recent years, Jesse Gephart has ably taken on the mantle of Crumpet, the most cynical elf to ever darken a Macy's Santa Claus display. And Gerald Ford was still hawking "Whip Inflation Now" buttons when Ira David Wood III first donned Ebenezer Scrooge's famous crooked nose and spectacles in A Christmas Carol (Dec. 913, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, 2 E. South St., Raleigh; Dec. 1720, Durham Performing Arts Center, 123 Vivian St., Durham). Wood's endless, snarky sight gags, quips and arch one-liners—spruced up each year with current references from pop culture and local news—temper the sentimentalism of his musical score in a broad lampoon of a holiday classic. 919-831-6936,